Capital Facts for Rome, Italy

Rome flagA magnet for religious pilgrimages throughout the ages, Rome is the capital city for the Italian Republic.

Euromonitor International ranks Rome as the world’s 13th most tourist-visited city in 2015, and in third place for Europe behind only London and Paris for the number of international tourist arrivals.

Italy was among the world’s 10 top exporters in 2016, shipping US$461.5 billion worth of goods around the globe. Italy’s highest-value exports include medicines, processed petroleum oils, jewelry, automotive parts and accessories, vehicles, wine, handbags and footwear according to the International Trade Centre.

About 2.9 million residents lived within Rome’s city limits in 2014, over an area of 496.1 square miles (1,285 square kilometers).

The city of Rome is also capital of Lazio, one of Italy’s 20 administrative regions. Rome contains Vatican City, an independent country found within Rome’s city boundaries. This makes Rome unique in its ability to claim the world’s only country within a city.

Beyond Rome’s municipal boundaries, the Metropolitan City of Rome is home to 4.3 million people. The metropolitan land area extends over 1,193 square miles (3,089 square kilometers).

At the country level, Italy’s land area covers 113,568 square miles (294,140 square kilometers). The national population count was 62 million inhabitants as of July 2016.

Population density is higher within Italy’s capital city with an average 5,800 Romans per square mile (2,200 per square kilometer).

Throughout the Metropolitan City of Rome, which contains more than twice the land area inside Rome city limits, density diminishes to an average 3,600 people per square mile (1,400 per square kilometer).

For Italy overall, population density drops to an average 550 inhabitants per square mile (200 per square kilometer).